Today on the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about online learning with my guest, Linda Permann. Linda is the Sewing and Embroidery Acquisitions Editor at Craftsy.
Linda is also very crafty herself. She’s a crochet designer, instructor of three Craftsy classes, and the author of three books, including Crochet Adorned and Little Crochet. She began her career in craft as an editor for Jo-Ann magazine and was the founding craft and decorating editor of Adorn magazine (Remember Adorn? That was a great magazine!). Linda enjoys working with designers and teachers to create great content that empowers people to make. In her spare time, she sews, crochets, knits, quilts, and embroiders. In fact, she says she’s never met a craft she didn’t like.
We start off by talking about what exactly Linda’s job at Craftsy entails. Linda traces her career path from working in craft publishing in various forms to becoming a designer, an early Craftsy instructor, and then going to work for Craftsy. We talk about the early days of Craftsy and how it’s changed as a company since then including adding ecommerce and partnering with Joann’s.
Many quilt shop owners feel ambivalent about Craftsy due to concern that students will choose the less expensive online alternative rather than paying for an attending in-person classes at their stores. Linda has a really interesting way of framing this situation, comparing it to buying a musician’s album and then seeing them in concert.
Linda explains exactly what she’s looking for in a class and instructor. She tells us which classes are selling best right now and gives specific advice on what you can do to make yourself more likely to be qualified to teach on Craftsy.
In our conversation we reference:
- Linda’s blog, LindaMade
- designer and author Susan Beal and book agent Stacey Glick
- Emily Lawrence, Senior Vice President of Content and Production at Craftsy
- Erin Slonaker
- Stephanie Japel, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Craftsy
- the form you can fill out if you’d like to propose a Craftsy class
- Craftsy’s partnership with Joann stores
- Linda Lee’s classes and Beverly Johnson’s classes
Toward the end of the interview, Linda provides her email address if you’d like to send her a message.
And, of course, I ask Linda to recommend great stuff she’s enjoying right now. Linda recommends:
- the Loopy phone case (These are so cool! I checked them out after the show and now I want one.)
- the Craftsy app
- committing to a daily practice
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Today’s episode is sponsored by Amy Barickman, founder of Indygo Junction sewing patterns and books. Visit AmyBarickman.com to find vintage imagery, sewing and craft books and her new Vintage Notions Monthly magazine which is based on material from the Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts. Although the Institute was founded 100 years ago, the treasure trove of lessons and stories are still relevant today and offer a blueprint for living a contented life. Check it out at Vintage Notions Monthly.
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Great show again! I have a quick question… what constitutes a “good following” on social media? How many subscribers to your newsletter or Facebook “friends” is good? And truth be told, I have no idea how many people actually read my blog. I know how many visits happen but don’t know how many are subscribed. (doh – something I should figure out how to figure out eh?!)
This is a great question, Lyric. I don’t know what Linda’s definition is. I will ask her and perhaps she’ll get a chance to comment here with her thoughts. I think several thousand followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter constitutes a “good” sized following, although engagement is equally important. For a newsletter it’s about the combination of subscribers and open rate. I think 5,000 subscribers with a 50% open rate for a craft-related site is a “good” sized newsletter following. For blog readership 100K pageviews/month. Those are my off the cuff thoughts, but Linda may have a different perspective.
Hi Lyric- Abby’s definition of a good-sized following is on track. Keep in mind that is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to which classes we make- but especially important for very niche topics–it’s an easy way to show that yes, people are interested in what you are doing, so much so that they let you e-mail or otherwise tell them about it every so often. 🙂
Abby, this is a great podcast with Linda! I was lucky enough to have Linda as my aquisitions editor for my Craftsy class. She was wonderful to work with. All of the Craftsy staff that I worked with were top-notch. It’s a great experience. I also loved hearing about Linda’s early career, and the early years of Craftsy!
I’m so glad!
This was a fascinating interview. Top-notch as always, Abby!! 🙂
I have a couple of comments. First, I find social media and the pressure to have a big presence overwhelming. I am not trying to start a creative business, but I’ve been making stuff (and even blogging about it, albeit it at a personal level and rather sporadically) since about the time my son was born 10 years ago and the thought of trying to change up everything just to get more followers is totally unappealing. That’s ok, since I have no plans to pitch a Craftsy class or write a book, but I wonder how much creative talent is out there and not living on Facebook and Instagram and gearing everything they write for a market niche or target audience. I know that’s the reality of succeeding in today’s world, but if I were making a go of it I wouldn’t really know where to start.
Second, Linda’s comment near the end of the show regarding health insurance and benefits rang so true. Do you listen to the Stash Local podcast (it’s really good! mostly knitting focused but there is a lot of good content about creative business in general)? She recently interviewed a photographer who was working full time as a high school teacher and was not able/willing to make the financial leap into going into business full-time until Obamacare kicked in because he would otherwise have been paying $1500 every month for health insurance for his family, and even that wasn’t very good coverage. Once he could take advantage of the ACA he had really good coverage for 1/3 of that cost, and that’s when he quit his day job and launched his business full time. I don’t think we can ignore the enormous impact health coverage has on people who employ themselves. I am a freelance musician and mother of two young kids (elementary school age) and if I weren’t married to someone with a steady salary and benefits there is no way I could keep doing what I do. We love our American entrepreneurship, don’t we, but there are limits to the risks some of us are willing to take when our families are on the line.
Really enjoyed this. I think I missed the boat on Adorn magazine–I plan to see if I can find its remnants online.
It was a pretty great publication!
I love all the episodes on different forms of media publishing (book, class, etc). Even though I’m not in a position to do it yet, it helps to have a roadmap of sorts to let me know what to work on. It seems that one of the most important things to do is make and foster connections. Lots of people are good at making things, but not everyone puts themselves out there to get noticed by the right people. Linda makes a similar point in her comments as well.
Thanks for all your work getting this info out there for your readers!
You’re welcome ????
I love Craftsy! As an artist who did the typical art school/graduate school approach I wanted to still keep learning when school was over. I have spent so much money on my degrees that these classes are a great way for me to learn a new creative practice while still managing to pay back my student loans. I went to school for painting but since graduation sewing has been a major interest for me. The Craftsy classes are really well made and I love being able to return to them for inspiration. I also love the Craftsy App. I have trouble sleeping sometimes (I am currently a long term High School Art Teacher substitute) and being able to follow a class right then and there helps my brain to let go of the stress. I enjoy watching someone teach something in a non-stressful environment. 🙂
Hi, Abby: I have been following your blog and receiving your newsletters for a few months now since I heard about it from one of the quilters I am following. Now that I’m retired from my federal government job, I’m finally catching up on your podcasts. Some of the names are familiar to me, while others are totally new. As a quilter and garment maker, I love hearing the creative side of the interviews. However, as my son is involved in a biomedical start-up company, I am also interested in hearing the business-related elements of the conversations. (Maybe I’ll hear some tips that I can pass on to him about raising capital.) The guests I have heard so far, besides being creative, are also very smart and insightful. I appreciate that you devote a whole hour to them so that listeners can really get to know your guests and what makes them tick. Thank you so much for doing this and making your podcasts available to us creative people who are also interested in business information.
You’re so welcome! I’m thrilled to know that you’re listening to and enjoying the interviews.